


The Owls

by InkMouseStone



Category: Flash Fiction - Fandom, Horror - Fandom, Owls - Fandom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-23
Updated: 2019-01-23
Packaged: 2019-10-15 03:27:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17521118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InkMouseStone/pseuds/InkMouseStone
Summary: A woman, her boyfriend, and her cat make a stop at a friend's house while on their way home on a stormy afternoon.





	The Owls

The day had been a nice one and the mood in the car was cheerful, despite the trees rippling violently outside. She watched leaves being torn away from their branches and glanced up at the darkening skies, but she couldn’t help but give a tiny smile as she said, “Looks like it’ll storm any minute.”  
He nodded, “Yeah, and don’t forget I still have to stop at J’s before we go home.” She hadn’t forgotten; it would be a quick stop though, and then she could bundle up at home and watch the storm pass in warm serenity. She looked back at their cat, small and black and sleeping. She hoped the stop wouldn’t cause her to get too restless.  
They pulled up to the driveway and stopped just beside it. “Alright,” He said as he stepped out of the car, “I’ll be back in a second.”  
She watched him walk up to the house and disappear, and decided to let the wind in, turning the hand crank on the door and lowering the window a bit. The cat meowed.  
She twisted around and reached back to pull down the cat’s window down too, but only the smallest opening she could manage – the cat was crafty. But the cracked window seemed to appease the cat, as it stood on its hind legs and searched the outside world.  
She turned back to her own window and closed her eyes, enjoying the breeze for a moment. When she opened them, she was drawn to look at a nearby tree. Staring at it for what seemed like a long time, she finally noticed a large, white owl staring at her. She locked eyes with it.  
And the owl’s head twitched to the right.  
It spread its wings out; they were massive; and dipped its body to fall from the tree. It glided over to her, its head turning back and forth as it stared at her during its slow descent. Finally, its beak clamped onto her window, staring at her with deep, red eyes, perfectly fixed on her. It hung there for just a moment, just long enough for her to possibly, very slowly, reach out her hand to try and pet it. So she did. She reached the tip of her finger to the tip of the owl’s feathers, patiently moving closer, until finally she felt its’ heat.  
The owl screeched and flung its feet up and on to the window. They were horrible, massive feet – looking more like the hands of a big, burly man – covered in tufts of thick, dark hair; horrible yellow nails covered the end of each nasty, quivering toe. It gripped the window as it screeched evermore. The cat yowled.  
She looked back to see another owl at the cat’s window. It was trying to force the window open; she knew it would succeed. When it did, the cat would surely die.  
She gave a quick tug at her own window, pulling it up most of the way; the owl screeched; she twisted her body around and reached back to roll up the cat’s window. She pulled towards herself, the owl shrieking at the window crushing its feet, but it didn’t let go. She couldn’t stretch far enough to crank the handle a full circle; it was just out of reach. She used her other hand to brace herself; she just needed to push herself a little more…  
Hands slapped onto her arm – the owl had forced open her own window enough to grab her. Her arm burned as the owl screeched and screeched and gripped tighter and tighter until she wasn’t sure if she was feeling pain or nothing at all; yet the burning stayed, crawling up and down her arm like a flame.  
The cat yowled. The owls were screeching and shrieking and their wings were beating wildly against the car. She tried to pry the owl’s feet off of her arm, but it was clamped around her so tightly…The owl made a grab for her other hand, but she narrowly escaped it. The cat yowled; she glanced back. The other owl was prying open the window with one hand and swatting at the cat with the other. She reached back again to try and close the window.  
A hand at her neck - and it burned too. Her arm, she was sure, she could not feel anymore, and the hand on her neck was not quite big enough to wrap completely around – but it hurt. It hurt and hurt and burned and the owl was screeching and the cat was yowling. She wanted to tell the cat to stop, to hide under the seat, but she couldn’t think of the words. The owls were screeching and the cat was yowling, and hissing now, and the owls were screaming – or was it her that was screaming? She pushed at the owl with her free hand, staring at its face. The large eyes, the open beak, the ruffled feathers.  
And the owls were screeching and the cat was yowling and she was screaming, and the owls were screaming and then the cat stopped yowling and the owls were screeching, and then she stopped screaming, and the owls were screaming and the owls were screaming, and the owls were screaming…


End file.
